‘Let’s bring the vaccine to them’ | Morning Newsletter
And, wasted COVID-19 doses.
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Good morning from The Inquirer newsroom.
First: Mobile vaccine clinics are in ramp up mode, and it could help fast-track the urgent push for equity.
Then: Capitol Officer Brian Sicknick shared a central NJ upbringing, support of Trump with the men now charged with attacking him before his death.
And: Rules on using residual COVID-19 vaccine doses keep evolving, and COVIVD-19 doses are going to waste. Here’s what’s stopping pharmacists from pooling and expanding the supply of doses.
— Ashley Hoffman (@_ashleyhoffman, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
More Philly groups are hitting public and private housing sites to reach some of the city’s most vulnerable vaccine seekers right in their own homes.
Penn Medicine recently launched two mobile vaccination initiatives with the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine in the name of efficiency. And just this week, a resourceful group of healthcare workers started visiting senior public housing facilities across West Philadelphia, getting 380 people vaccinated.
The coordinated mobile vaccination requires a lot of preparation, but the speedy results of that reach are looking dramatic, and residents have been overwhelmed with gratitude for the efforts.
Reporters Ellie Rushing and Oona Goodin-Smith have the latest on the mobile vaccine push.
Three men who grew up in working-class families less than 15 minutes apart in Middlesex County, N.J. called themselves vocal Trump supporters as adults. But despite the proximity of their upbringings and the similarity of their views, Julian Khater, George Tanios and Brian Sicknick would not meet until they found themselves on the opposite sides of a police barricade in Washington on Jan. 6.
The encounter left one of them dead and the two others accused in an attack that may have caused it. Federal prosecutors say Khater, and Tanios - friends, former fast food business partners and New Brunswick natives – shot Sicknick in the face with bear spray as part of the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol building. Sicknick, who grew up in South River, died in the hospital hours later. And while authorities have not yet released his cause of death, or charged Khater and Tanios, with killing him, they have suggested that Sicknick’s exposure to chemical irritants may have contributed.
The path that brought all three to that moment is still confounding to the families and those assigned to investigate and mete out justice. Reporter Jeremy Roebuck has the whole story from the trial.
Increase our vaccine supply by an estimated 10%.
That’s what pharmacists say vaccinators could do immediately by giving people extra leftover doses or pooling partial doses to make a whole dose. But federal agencies either discourage or forbid those ways of repurposing overfill, and that’s meant wasted doses.
As with so much of this rollout, federal guidance is evolving to meet the moment, but the rules are inconsistent. (The FDA says it’s all good to use the excess from Moderna vaccines to expand the supply, but not with Pfizer. The CDC flat out forbids it due to potential contamination.) The Philadelphia Department of Public Health is sticking to the CDC rules, directing all the city’s providers to stop blending to stretch the supply out. People have different views on how safe it is to do this.
Reporter Marie McCullough has the whole story on the vaccine extras situation.
Where can I get a COVID-19 vaccine in the Philly area? Use our lookup tool.
Track the spread of the coronavirus in the region.
Find out whether you’re eligible for the vaccine if you’re in Philly, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
Here’s how to prepare for your vaccine appointment.
What you can do safely once you’re fully vaccinated.
What you need to know today
Former U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain is taking a step toward running for Pa. governor next year, and he’s putting Gov. Tom Wolf on blast.
Gov. Tom Wolf announced the plan to generate a notable 50% of Pa. government building energy through solar yesterday.
U.S. officials say that AstraZeneca may have used outdated information in its vaccine trial.
This is how to get hired in Philly’s growing robotics scene that needs reliable people from all different experience levels.
A Chester County attorney who allegedly defrauded hiss clients and his family was sentenced to state prison.
Through your eyes | #OurPhilly
It’s hard not to browse through this gallery and feel the warmth. Thanks for sharing this pretty picture, @r_aparicio77.
Tag your Instagram posts or tweets with #OurPhilly and we’ll pick our favorite each day to feature in this newsletter and give you a shout-out!
That’s interesting
🧾 Hello Philly! It’s time to catch a break. How to file your taxes for free. Really.
👔 Friday is tie day for South Jersey male mentoring group for Black youths.
🎼 EGOT status holder Whoopi Goldberg will host an online tribute to Philly’s Academy of Music.
🧪 Dry ice keeps COVID-19 vaccines cool while they’re being transported. A Temple University professor can demonstrate how with a balloon, some food coloring and a toy gun full of bubbles.
Opinions
“Asian Americans also need to focus on admitting openly that we are scared and suffering, and to seek urgent care for ourselves. Not as individuals relying on our own tactical wits to survive, or as mono-ethnic enclaves within our communities, but as a truly united Pan-Asian front,” — writer and New Hope resident Jobert Abueva writes that Asian Americans can come together to protect one another.
House call heroes visiting vulnerable homebound patients is really helping, nurse practitioner Tarik S. Khan writes.
“Cancer is never a blessing. Cancer and the ensuing treatment is the worst thing that ever happened to me. But since cancer, I don’t have time for not telling the truth,” Oreland resident Claire Gawinowicz writes.
What we’re reading
The welcome spring weather is bringing in some sweet action for this Philly bakery that’s eager to return to making elaborate cakes for special occasions, Billy Penn reports.
Mashable picked the 20 best movies to stream on Netflix now. Highlights include: Monty Python if you need a laugh, or Roma, the black and white film that made an Oscar nominee out of Oaxacan indigenous actor Yalitza Aparicio.
Luxuriate in this list of luxe treehouse hotels compiled by Conde Nast Traveler.
Supermarkets are going mad for mochi ice cream, VICE reports.
The beauty of creative output on the internet will not be archivable, The Atlantic muses.
The gourmand’s Pop Tart is a food trend that’s totally popping up all over Philly. Bring your fork and knife to these new spins on the old Kellogg’s staple. Crimped at the flaky edges, drizzled with icing and loaded with fruit filling? Sounds like breakfast all day to us. Sometimes they’re filled with Thanksgiving turkey and the trimmings, sometimes strawberry champagne is on the menu, and all right, you should really just get your whole life to reporter Jen Ladd’s guide.